Imitating Natsume
by LuckyTurtle
Summary: In which Tsubasa acts like Natsume because he's heartbroken, Misaki blows up in anger, Mikan begins to be smart, and Natsume has something to tell Mikan. TxM. A LITTLE NxM. "Those words she said hurt..." -Tsubasa "Yes, acting like Natsume was perfect...


**So this is about Tsubasa and Misaki, but you probably already know that.**

**It's set a little after the Christmas Ball in the manga, and you'll find the flashback in this story is actually from that scene when Tsubasa and Misaki were asked if they were dating because they danced without masks.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gakuen Alice, anime or manga.**

**Tsubasa's POV**

Those words Misaki said hurt. I know she didn't notice it, though it should have been obvious to her.

She was always the smart one.

Although, maybe she did and just pretended not to notice.

But the words she said at the Ball…

_**Flashback**_

"_Tsubasa and me a couple? Impossible! We're just friends!"_

"_Friends!"_

"_Basically…He's a playboy…"_

"_He could never be a boyfriend."_

"_Too lousy."_

_**End Flashback**_

I could still hear those words wringing in my head.

They're the words that keep me up at night.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I am a playboy.

I can just hear all those comments I always get from other people.

"_There you go again—flirting!"_

"_Always the playboy, aren't you Tsubasa?"_

"_Do you always flirt this much with girls, Tsubasa-senpai?"_

"_You flirt too much, Baka Tsubasa." __**(Yes, this rhyme was on purpose! If I had a friend with a name that rhymed with idiot, I know I'd put "idiot" before their name, too…haha)**_

"_Playboy."_

I don't mean to, really. Hell, half the time I'm not even aware I'm actually flirting!

Maybe it means I'm dense, but I just don't distinguish too much how I talk to girls and/or how I talk to boys.

Well…okay, maybe I do, but whatever.

I don't know what to do.

I love Misaki so much, but I'm not her type.

But then again, what exactly _is_ her type?

Does she like quiet boys?

Shy boys?

Handsome _men_?

At least I know for sure she doesn't like playboys.

!

Wait…!

Of _course!_

I'm so stupid.

That's what I'll do.

All I have to do is stop flirting with girls for awhile, get her to notice me, at least a little, and go from there.

"Hey, Tsubasa," a pretty girl from the class below me winked and waved as she was passing by me.

I flashed my trademark smile at her, winked back, and watched as she walked sexily away, swaying her butt in the process.

Damn.

This was going to be harder than I thought.

…

How was I going to do this?

I didn't have anyone to copy off of.

I didn't know shit about how _not_ to flirt.

Let's face it. I'm a failure.

"Tsubasa-senpai!" I heard a call.

I was walking towards my dorm, so I turned around to the place where I heard the voice come from.

I saw Mikan, my favorite kouhai.

Of course—how many other people call me senpai?

Well, a lot, but never mind.

I had barely just enough time to open up my arms to catch her hug before I was nearly knocked over.

"Hey Mikan!" I laughed, probably already in "flirting mode". "What's up?"

"I'm going to Central Town!" Mikan started chatting away.

Over Mikan's shoulder I was able to see her (rather large) group of friends behind her.

"First I asked Hotaru if she wanted to come…" I became aware of Mikan's voice in my ear before I was once again distracted.

It looks like she brought almost her entire class—Natsume included (I wasn't surprised to find that he was glaring at me).

"…And Ruka-pyon said he was going anyways, which is why Natsume agreed to come…"

I almost smiled hearing her (once again) use Ruka's name with an honorific and Natsume's without **(A/N For those of you who might or might not know, when one doesn't use a suffix on someone's name, it normally means that they are very close—like family—or that they are lovers or something. It's almost like the "highest suffix", I guess. But it can also be very insulting if you use it without another's permission)**.

"…Eventually I got Youichi to go…"

My eyes zeroed in on Natsume.

Hmmm…. Maybe….

"…And Koko said yes right away, so Kitsu…"

Yes. Natsume was perfect.

He didn't flirt with girls at all.

"…It took awhile to get Permy to come, but…"

I wouldn't copy him _exactly_, of course, 'cause he sets people on fire, but he's rude, so they kind of stay away from him.

The girls still admire him from afar, but they don't actually go _near_ him, so…

After all—I still wanted admiring girls, I just didn't want to be a _playboy_.

Acting like Natsume was perfect.

"…So then Anna and Nonoko said they would come—don't know why I didn't ask them first—and…"

Although it was kind of ironic—after all, the upperclassman learning from the lowerclassman?

But whatever.

This could work.

"…and then I _finally_ found Yuu—"

"—Sorry Mikan," I interrupted hastily, "I have to be somewhere."

"Oh," she said, crestfallen. "Okay, see you later Tsubasa-senpai!"

While waving goodbye as I walked away, she seemed to perk up when Natsume started talking to her.

Well, "perk up" probably wouldn't be the phrase for it, more like "got really angry", but at least she wasn't sad anymore.

Checking one last time Mikan was okay (I didn't want to be so much like Natsume that I hurt her feelings), I started running towards the middle school dorm.

…

The next day, when we were in our Special Ability Classrooms and everyone else was laughing and yelling and pretty much goofing around (Noda was gone again), Misaki was talking to me.

I, however, was not going to answer like normal.

"So guess what?" she asked, appearing agitated.

I raised my eyebrows at her.

_Damn it!_ I cursed inside. _Natsume would probably just ignore her, but I can't help it! I have to do _something_!_

I could tell she found that odd, but she continued.

"The high school paper was stating today that Akira Hemboshi was seen kissing Lulu-chan! Can you believe it? Our little Lulu-chan! Kissing _Akira Hemboshi!_"

"Hn," I answered with the ever-popular "Hyuuga-Hn". Not that _I_ named it that of course, Natsume's fangirls did the "honor".

Misaki glanced at me even more strangely.

"Tsubasa!" she said, surprised. "Lulu-chan! Hellooooo!" She started waving her hand in front of my face.

Grabbing her hand (gently, I made sure), I pushed it out of my face and said, "So?"

This made her mad.

"Tsubasa!" she barked. "I thought you were protective of Lulu-chan! You know you can't let her kiss _Akira Hemboshi_, the playboy of the school!"

I leaned back and placed my hands behind my head.

"What about me?" I asked rudely.

"What?" she asked, baffled.

"What about me?" I repeated. "Where do I stand in this school? Second biggest playboy? Third? After all, didn't you say at the Christmas Ball that I was a playboy?"

"What do you mean?" Misaki asked slowly.

"I thought I made that obvious," I stated, indifferent.

Yes!

I think it's working.

This is _definitely_ how Natsume would act.

I think.

"Tsubasa!" She shrieked.

Damn.

She only screamed that loud when she was really, _really_ pissed.

Uh-oh.

"How can you say that? Don't you care about Lulu-chan?"

I opened my mouth to fix what I had done, but Misaki didn't let me continue.

"Out," she said, all of a sudden dead calm.

Everyone in the classroom went silent.

"But Misaki—" I protested.

"Don't say anything," she said coldly, pointing towards the door.

Knowing if I objected I'd just make it worse, I walked dejectedly towards the door.

"Ohayo, minna-sa…" Mikan bounced in the door and then stopped, watching confusedly as I passed her and walked out the door.

**Misaki's POV**

I don't know what _in hell_ possessed Tsubasa to be like that, but he better be back to normal tomorrow!

The nerve of him!

Didn't he care?

Vaguely, I felt my conscience tickling my mind, telling me that something must be bothering Tsubasa, but I ignored it for the anger consuming me.

"Misaki-senpai?" asked the confused Mikan at the doorway. "What happened?"

"Tsubasa happened!" I exploded in a short burst of anger.

Taking in my appearance and the dead silent classroom that was watching us, Mikan had a bit of insight.

"Let's go talk outside," she said, walking back out the door.

Too angry to do anything else, I followed—stomping the entire way and wanting to hit something.

After we got outside and started taking a walk, Mikan asked, "What happened?"

Explaining everything, Mikan, for once, stayed silent and listened.

After I was done, Mikan paused and stopped walking, which caused me to do the same.

With a thoughtful look on her face, Mikan asked, "Do you remember what you said at the Christmas Ball about Tsubasa-senpai being a playboy?"

"Of course I do!" I said easily. "I didn't mean anything _serious_ by it, I mean, he's not a _real_ playboy, he only _flirts_ with girls, he doesn't actually go out with them or kiss them or anything!"

"Oh," Mikan said, almost stupidly.

"So why are you asking?" I asked her, remembering the thoughtful look on her face she had before and knowing she must have thought of _something_.

"Well…" Mikan said slowly. "You weren't looking at Tsubasa-senpai's face after you said those words, but I was."

"And…?" I prompted her.

Mikan, with a serious look on her face said, "You should go talk to him, because I know you hurt him by what you said at the ball. I don't know if it was what you said about not dating someone like him, or just about him being a playboy, but I know it was something."

I was surprised; normally Mikan wasn't smart enough to say things like this. When she was actually this smart, it was mostly because she was really fired up about something. She must _really_ want me to make things better with Tsubasa.

"Well," Mikan said, spotting Tsubasa walking around the corner, "there he is! Better go talk to him! I have to go—Natsume wanted to tell me something…"

And with that, she walked off.

"Tsubasa!" I called, a little angrily. "I need to talk to you."

Tsubasa looked up from the ground that he was staring intently at and locked eyes with me from his spot a little ways away.

"Okay," he agreed.

Walking up to him, I asked, "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" He was confused. "Nothing's wrong. Well, something's wrong 'cause you're angry at me, but nothing's wrong with _me_."

"_Something_'s wrong," I said. "So what _is_ it?"

Tsubasa, for once, said nothing.

"Why are you acting like this?" I exclaimed. "Does it have something to do with the Christmas Ball?"

Still Tsubasa said nothing, but something in his eyes told me the answer was yes.

"Was it because I called you a playboy?"

Again my intuition told me yes.

"I didn't _really _mean it, Tsubasa…" I trailed off, not really used to apologizing.

I paused. "Why are you acting like this?" I asked again. "Just tell me!"

Tsubasa jerked, a little surprised by my loud remark, I guess.

"Well…" He paused, thinking. "I was watching Natsume today…and he's not a playboy, right?"

"Right…" I said slowly, not liking where this was going.

"So, I thought, why not copy him? I mean he's rude, sure…but it's effective, right? Except, I haven't seen any girls other than you since then, so I only really got to try it on you, and then I made you angry, so I was upset, and then I think I made Mikan upset by ignoring her, and then…"

I interrupted him. "You didn't make Mikan upset, actually. She was the one who told me to come talk to you."

"Oh." Tsubasa stopped, surprised, and then he laughed. "That's good, I think."

"So you were copying Natsume?" I asked. "Why, exactly?"

"Well…" Tsubasa seemed nervous all of a sudden and wouldn't look me in the eyes. "I know you don't like playboys…and if you thought _I_ was a playboy, then I figured you didn't like me…so…"

I blinked.

"Silly Tsubasa!" I exclaimed, starting to laugh a little. "Did you do this all for me?"

Tsubasa lifted his arm up to rub the back of his head sheepishly, though he still stared at the ground. "I guess…" he said, raising his eyes to meet mine.

And I stopped laughing.

I looked at him.

And I mean I _really_ looked at him.

For a long time now, I had known that I loved Tsubasa Andou, but I had figured it was one-sided.

Now, looking into his eyes, I saw an emotion I had never expected to see there when he was looking at me.

After all, I was just some ordinary girl, right?

He could have any girl he wanted, being as handsome—and flirty—as he is.

But still…

In his eyes, I could have sworn I saw…

Love.

But no…I had to be wrong, right?

…Right?

But…maybe I wasn't.

_What if _I wasn't.

"Tsubasa…" I muttered gently, touching his cheek and making him lift his head up fully to look at me.

Should I do it?

It would be pretty brave of me to do it…

And I could get heartbroken afterwards…

But, maybe…

Just maybe…

Taking the leap, I kissed him.

THE END.

**So was it good?**

**It's probably cruel ending it right here, but you already know they both love each other, so…**

**If anyone wants, I MIGHT be able to do a second chapter, but you'd need to tell me yes or no…**

**And, if I did, you'd need to tell me a little about what you want in it.**

'**Cause if you think about it, there's really nothing to put.**

**Maybe something about Natsume and Mikan….**

**Hmmm…what did Natsume want to tell Mikan, now that I think about it…?**

**Oh, whatever. Tell me what you think!**

**Thanks for reading, and no flames, please!**


End file.
